Saurav Ganguly set to become the new BCCI president

One of the most successful caption of the Indian men’s cricket team, Saurav Ganguly will become the next chairman of Board of Cricket.

‘Dada’ as he is fondly called, Saurav Ganguly emerged as a unanimous choice for the post which appeared to have gone to Brijesh Patel. Former BCCI head N. Srinivasan was said to be lobbying for Patel.

Apart from Ganguly, other office bearers will be- Jay Shah as the secretary and Arun Dhumal as treasurer. Jay Shah is the son of Home Minister Amit Shah while Dhumal is the younger brother of MoS Finance and former BCCI president Anurag Thakur. Brijesh Patel is likely to become the new IPL chairman.

Though Monday is the last day of filing a nomination, now elections will be held as all the candidates have emerged unopposed.

Ganguly, who is one of the most successful captain, is the current chairman of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). He along with Shah will serve the top position for 10 months and will have to serve a mandatory cooling period of three years.

As a part of BCCI’ new constitution, any office bearer at national or state levels, will have to serve this cooling period after having served six consecutive years in any position.

The selection of Saurav Ganguly for this post was decided in an ‘unofficial’ meeting organised by N. Srinivasan and was attended by the likes of Rajiv Shukla, Anurag Thakur, Niranjan Shah apart from Ganguly, Jay Shah and Patel, reports ESPNcricinfo.

It is understood that Srinivasan announced Ganguly and Patel’s names for the top positions in the BCCI and IPL.

When the new office bearers assume office, it will end a 33-month term of the Committee of Administrators, which called shots in running the cricket affairs in country post Lodha Committee reforms.